This play of word much appreciated by Corneille is also in the French version of the song “I would already like to be king”. We explain what it is …
Difficult to have grown with Disney classics without having seen The Lion Kingreleased for the first time in 1994. The story of Simba, this lion cub ready for anything to regain its place after the tragic death of his father, Mufasa, marked generations. But beyond the plot, it is also the soundtrack that has remained engraved in memories. The song “I would already like to be king“, Particularly catchy, accompanies the ambition of the young lion cub, convinced that he is ready to reign on the land of the lions. But did you know that she hides a rather special play on words?
Precisely, in this replica sung by Zazou in Simba: “Ah, beware, lion, don’t deceive yourself”we find what is called a Kakemphaton. In French, it is a figure in style where a sentence can be understood in several ways because of an ambiguity in words or in syntax. Kakemphaton creates a double sense in a sentence, often involuntary. He can also accidentally occur in a badly shot speech.
The purposes of the French language will undoubtedly make the parallel with the pun. This other figure is based on close sounds or double -meaning words, but it is used voluntarily to create a humorous, ironic or absurd effect. Knowing that it is a Kakemphaton, what other meaning can we give to “Ah, beware, lion, don’t deceive yourself” ? According to Victor Pierson, alias @victorpiersontiktok On the Tiktok network, a French -speaking enthusiast who has notably released a book “History of and some expressions that stop on the way” (Editions without tension), we can hear: “Ah, take Gare de Lyon, do not deceive a way”. Subtle right? This kind of figure in style was also widely used by a well -known French playwright.
Indeed, Pierre Corneille often used kakemphatons in his works. One of the best known is present in the room Horace :: “I am alas, since my husband is”. In principle, you hear “my chicken” in place of “my husband is”. In another tragedy, he even wrote: “You know me badly: the same ardor burns me, and the desire increases when the effect gets back”. Here, we could understand, at the end of the sentence: “”When the buttocks retreat “.